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Matthew set off on a middle-sized, brown-and-white paint mare named Suvie that he&039;d secured on previous business trips from Mr Winekoop&039;s stable She was a plodder, but she was easilyto the a Winekoop-to throw a rider So, with Suvie under him, his hands in the reins, boots in the stirrups, and wax-sealed envelope tucked in an inner coat pocket and fastened doith a button, he rode along the Broad Way to the north,their wares fro chickens, slop and the essence of chamberpot thrown into the street, and other sundry obstacles to be avoided

He wished he&039;d thought to bring a hat, because here came another brief shower that wet hioing past the pottery shop, though, for he wanted to keep to a strict time-schedule

It had been almost two-thirty when he&039;d left the stable There&039;d been an important task he&039;d needed to accoistrate Powers for perh the afternoon was free and he&039;d known the istrate, however, had not been in the office and so Matthew had left a note, completed his task, and then hurried back down the stairs where he&039;d run into High Constable Lillehorne and Chief Prosecutor Bynes on their way up

"Ho there, Matthew!" said Bynes, a large-bellied and jovial ray beard "Where to in such a hurryi"

"Hello, sir I&039;m sorry, I do have an appointment"

"a rip on Matthew&039;s shoulder Lillehorne tried to squeeze past thes I estions at theand could be useful, and I&039;h constable intends to properly study theht, Gardneri"

"Yes sir," Lillehorne said, his voice suddenly bright "I intend to study theth"

"Grand!" That was the chief prosecutor&039;s highest and all-purpose praise Then his face darkened and a voice that could call down thunder and cataclysht You happened upon that tragic scene Gardner painted the whole picture for me, and I&039;ve looked in upon the body Those , are they noti"

"Yes sir, they are"

"I understand that our rather eccentric printain when he was unlawfully present in the cold room Yesi"

"Term, siri" Matthe exactly what he meant, but he wouldn&039;t speak it Besides, he wasn&039;t sure it had been "unlawful" for Grigsby to be present Unless they were rewriting the town code at night when everyone slept

"You do know" Bynes applied just a little more pressure to Matthew&039;s shoulder "We-all of us-are in this together, Matthew We are all professionals Crafts this ood is done when Maryou knowthat term for all to see in his sheet It causes an unease, which breeds fear, which breeds panic, which breeds citizens uncertain of the protective power of their legal officials Not good Yesi"

"Yes I sby to run his little paper Talk about the ships coy of New York, the social scene andyes, of course, even the s in the streets which any town of merit must endure" Bynes paused, his cool blue eyes ready to strike lightning to go along with a storsby cannot be-and will not be-allowed to make this murderer into more than simply a lunatic who most probably has now fled town"

"Pardon, sir," Matthew said, "but I think that&039;s as advanced after Dr Godwin&039;s murder Obviously it wasn&039;t true"

"We don&039;t know that it isn&039;t true now I&039;sby shouldn&039;t run a small bit about the incident I&039;d have to be a fool not to know that the whole town&039;s talking about it, but we ood of the people If Grigsby i Yesi"

Matthew had no idea whether he ought to agree or disagree But he said, "I do know of one thing that would greatly aid the good of the people, sir To actively investigate the murder and find this person before he-"

"Shhhhh" a thick finger went to Bynes&039; lips "We are investigating, you can be sure of that, and we shall find this lunatic if he is insane enough to re about that o He turned his attention to the high constable "a question for you, sir Have you been able to question Reverend Wade and Dr Vanderbrockeni"

"I have, if you really need to know"

"May I ask as their explanation of such a quick disappearancei"

Lillehorne cast a glance at Bynes that said Oh the fools I have to suffer Then, to Mattheith a hint of disdain, "The good reverend was on his way to attend to church business The good doctor was on his way to see a sick patient They obviously were on the south side of the street and heard Phillip Covey&039;s shout, just as you heard it fro there to wait for a constable, but they had their separate destinations"

"Their separate destinations," Matthew repeated

"That&039;s what I said are you in need of an ear-horni"

"Pardon, but did you ask exactly what church business and as the patienti"

"No, because I&039;entlemen and their explanations have satisfiedwould be disrespectful and possibly sinful in the case of Reverend Wade Really, Corbett!" He tried again to get past Bynes "Shall we go, siri"

Bynes released Matthew&039;s shoulder He flicked an i off Matthew&039;s left lapel "Speak to your friend, won&039;t youi Both as a friend to him and a friend to uided Suvie up the Broad Way hill past the pottery shop toward the lush green forest beyond, he was thinking about the phrase separate destinations That was odd, because he distinctly re to Dr Vanderbrocken We have to leave him

Was he mistaken, or didn&039;t that sentence iether toward a coround It appeared he&039;d been wearing a nightshirt under his cloak, which also had an i together, why had they not just said so to Lillehornei

Of course, there were many slips between Lillehorne&039;s cup and his lips, so it was certainly possible he&039;d ether or his questions had coled But still, it was very odd

How serious was it, for a man of God to tell a liei

Matthew had to shake these questions out of his brain What did it matter, anywayi He didn&039;t believe for an instant that either the reverend or doctor had had anything to do with the murders as Lillehorne had said, they were coincidentally on the south side of the street when they heard Covey shouting

We have to leave hiht He hated when that happened, because it o speak to Reverend Wade and Dr Vanderbrocken himself, just for the sake of clarity, when he returned to town

The last few houses on the edge of New York slipped past On either side were farmfields and orchards, stone boundary walls, and cattle in their pastures He rode past the large old windmill atop Common Hill, and then he was truly on the Boston Post Road as it curved along the huge green deep of Collect Pond on the left and thick woodland on the right sloping all the way down to the river

The rain showers had thankfully settled the dust on the Post Road The road itself was not nearly as rugged as that miserable path fro a civil engineer to his knees Matthew considered that one of thea coach between New York and Boston, and feeling those buullies nearly knock the wheels off under you But then again, it was a road well-travelled by local farer estates further north and of course as a route not only to Boston but also to East Chester and New Rochelle

It was a hilly route, with large stretches of wilderness between cultivated farmland Here too, as in the Carolina colony, the narled branches that had been old in the days of Henry Hudson Deer occasionally juht of Matthew and Suvie Dark flights of insects whirled over swaled over s that one was always being watched by Indian eyes, yet for a white hted was a near impossibility The clouds bellied, a shower fell, the clouds broke apart, and the bright sun shone down through ten-thousand green leaves above Matthew&039;s head